Mammograms effective from age 40, study says
Amid the controversy over the age at which women should begin having mammograms to screen breast cancer, a study from Sweden supports starting breast cancer screening at age 40. That conclusion goes against the many issued guidelines that recommend starting screening for mammogram at the age of 50. However, another study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested that mammograms are not as effective in women over 50 as previously thought. The announcement of those guidelines sparked an uproar among advocacy groups. Later, the task force said it had communicated the guidelines poorly and emphasised that women should still be able to choose to have mammograms at age 40 - it just should not be automatic. Research presented in the journal Cancer compared breast cancer mortality in areas of Sweden where women 40 to 49 had been invited for mammograms against those in which women in this age group had not. Researchers founded about a 26 percent reduction in the breast cancer death rate attributable to mammography. The benefit appeared greater for women 45 to 49 than in the 40- to 44-year-old group. Source: CNN
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments